Situated at the banks of the Mahanadi river to the east of Raipur, Sirpur is an interesting place.Archaeologists have discovered a statue of Buddhist female monk, Haritika living in 6th century in Chhattisgarh state. Haritika used to kidnap children and kill them and was converted by Buddha himself. Infact, finding the image of a female deity only proves that they were also popular like male deities and gods in that time.

In this area a unique Buddha Vihar with nine room and eight ladders leading to these rooms also was found by archaeologists. There is a 12 pillared columned hall in the centre of the Buddha vihar. They also believe that there must have been a Buddha Statue in the south of these rooms in the sanctorum.

A 1.8-metre Shivalinga, believed to be the tallest in the state, has been found during the recent excavations. The Laxman temple in Sirpur is one of the finest brick temples in the country. It`s construction style proves to be a turning point in the temple architecture in the 7th century. Apart from the nine room unique area, one more Buddha vihar with underground rooms and a six foot Buddha statue was also discovered here.

While excavating a huge palace like complex was found in this area. With it a big layer of charcoal was found and so the archaeologists think that this place was burnt down or was an accident. Some of them think that Sirpur was invaded because the trade was affected. Sirpur had been an important port for the trade route. It was on the way from a big port of Allahabad to another big port in Chhattisgarh. Since the traders had to pay more tax due to the smaller ports like Sirpur on the way, they diverted their route and the trade collapsed in Sirpur.

One surprising thing was found here and that is animal sex. This is not found even on the walls of Khajuraho. This is the rarest of carvings seen in Indian archaeology, according to the archaeologists. It was also believed that the society became sex centric which is evident from these carvings on the walls. This resulted into corruption and pushed Sirpur downward. It finally resulted in the civil war, which might have resulted in the invasion of the state.

Recently about 200 mounds, 100 Buddha vihars, four Jain vihars and more than 100 Shiva temples spread across 25 sq km were found during excavations in the Sirpur area.